A whole bunch of years ago I designed and improved system for checking the fuel injection system s tverify that all 4 of the 1.2 ohm injectors were connected. I replaced a resistance measuring systemthat had problems with one that used a constant current source. Because the injectors were relatively high power devices I was allowed to run 100Ma through the harness as part of the test. I used a constant current regulated source, and so the connected harness assembly yielded 100 millivolts per ohm, entirely adequate resolution. My application only required four wires to provide the needed accuracy. It worked well and saved our company a lot of money, and it made our customer happy as well. On top of that, it gave us a very short product lead time.

If you have a resistance (A) in a network of other resistances, Ohm's Law dictates the resistance you would measure directly across resistance A. To accurately measure resistance A by itself, you either isolate it from the circuit (removing it would do the job) or electrically null the other resistances so no current flows through them. That's what the 6-wire technique does. Automatic test equipment (ATE) uses a similar technique to electrically isolate resistances. By the way, a similar technique would for capacitances, too.

The need to electrically isolate components does require extra test equipment, but the 6-wire technique offers the only practical way to make accurate in-circuit resistance or capacitance measurements.--Jon

So if I understand it correctly, this six-wire technique works best when there's a network of resistors and you're challenged with measuring the resistance of only one? It also makes sense when measuring resistance with test equipment because of the possible interferences by dirt, grim, etc.? I'm wondering how much more difficult this technique is compared with standard practices?

A few weeks ago, Ford Motor Co. quietly announced that it was rolling out a new wrinkle to the powerful safety feature called stability control, adding even more lifesaving potential to a technology that has already been very successful.

It won't be too much longer and hardware design, as we used to know it, will be remembered alongside the slide rule and the Karnaugh map. You will need to move beyond those familiar bits and bytes into the new world of software centric design.

People who want to take advantage of solar energy in their homes no longer need to install a bolt-on solar-panel system atop their houses -- they can integrate solar-energy-harvesting shingles directing into an existing or new roof instead.

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